Premiere: Sidekicknick Returns With Video 'You Can Now, Fly'

Sidekicknick, the solo project of Auckland's Nick Buckton (Voom), has re-emerged after over a decade's downtime between releases with 'You Can Now, Fly', a stylish and surreal audio / visual combo created in collaboration with filmmaker Jared Kahi which we're thrilled to premiere here. The dreamy single is the first shot fired in a fresh wave of material to come from Sidekicknick, as he has two complete albums set for simultaneous release this year – The Red Planet Plan / The Blue Planet Plan, the long-awaited follow ups to SKN's acclaimed 2008 long-player Miscellaneous Adventures. Buckton wasn't sitting on his hands between releases – a professional film and tv sound designer / mixer at Native Audio, his projects have included David Farrier's Netflix hit Dark Tourist and award winning NZ feature film Dark Horse. Both collections are releasing via local independent imprint Banished From The Universe, The Red Planet Plan will present a collection of "rollicking noisy pop tunes with witty words" in a traditional Sidekicknick mode, while the exploratory The Blue Planet Plan will venture into introverted and soundscapey sonic territory.

Nick Buckton describes 'You Can Now, Fly' as "pretty much a sardonic song about mortality. As is my way, I try to avoid taking serious topics seriously, and the multi-layered video concept paints this picture of me hiding - if I’m going to be singing about death, I have to be obscured behind layers of visual disturbance, wearing silly goggles." Experience the video here, read Buckton's words on the ideas behind the clip and the double album release below, and keep it locked for more news from the freshly active artist...

"Visual guru Jared Kahi and I came up with the concept rather organically, and over quite a period of time… I would throw frustratingly random ideas at him, and like some kind of wizard he made it happen, weaving in his own. This creative process neatly matches the nature of my own song production in that I build and build and build on each track over years, like a house with many different extensions built over decades and ending up a bastardisation of its first actualisation. But hopefully more interesting for it?

So after almost 11 years I’m about to release two new records simultaneously - I split one long album into two short ones, as there are intangible differences I wanted to separate. The explanation for the 11-year hiatus is that there wasn’t a hiatus. My first album took 10 years to make, so that’s just the pace I like to work at, sloth-like. I’ve got a pretty full on job as a film sound post guy, plus a kid (who makes a guest appearance in the video), so you know, time is scarce.

I still play live shows as bass player for Voom, so this occasionally gets me out of windowless rooms. Plans to resurrect the Sidekicknick and the Technical Difficulties live act are in discussion, but at this stage I see these releases as purely a studio project. So I guess you’ll be hearing me again in 2029 / 2030."

Sidekicknick’s 'The Red Planet Plan / The Blue Planet Plan' are due for release in mid-2019 via Banished From The Universe.